


Red

by AvandraTheMarySueSlayer



Category: Baldur's Gate
Genre: Bhaal keeps messing up with his children, Dreams, Evocation, Gen, Magic, Mentions of Blood, worst dad ever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 11:32:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13974225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvandraTheMarySueSlayer/pseuds/AvandraTheMarySueSlayer
Summary: After a great accomplishment in her secret magic self-training, Cat of Candlekeep has a strange dream, the meaning of which she will not understand until much later in life.





	Red

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! Sorry for keeping you waiting with Strangeness and Charm, I just decided to merge the two next chapters into one because they fit better as such, and I've been having trouble writing lately. Let's just say my mental health is not in the best shape these days. I'll have it ready as soon as possible. In the meantime, I'll keep uploading these little one-shots I've been writing a while back, so I don't leave you hanging! Again, I am so so sorry, and I hope this tiiiiiiny little piece kind of makes up for it!

It had taken her a lot of investigation and sneaking off from her choirs to find the perfect place to practice. There were many forbidden corridors and doors in the walls of Candlekeep, and most of them she could never manage to trespass. One time, she got caught trying to open a particularly prohibited door, and the subsequent chase by her angered tutors ended her up in the spot she now stood at. It was a small, square-shaped rose garden, designed for relaxation and silent contemplation. The ruby blossoms stained the lush green grass like tiny droplets of blood. In the center of it all stood an ancient oak, its twisted roots digging deep into the ground, branches thrice thicker than human arms stretching high to scratch the blue sky.

 

Cat focused her thoughts inwards, silently reciting the words she had been memorizing for the past hours. Then, she let them out in a breathless whisper, and the incantation slowly took form in her mind, manifesting in the shape of a red glow on the tips of her fingers. She felt the energy vibrating through her whole body, surging from head to toe like lightning. Her pulse quickened, and she had to gasp for air.  _ Now or never,  _ she thought.

 

The young witch raised her fingers, which cracked with power, and the scarlet glow flashed from them in the form of a luminous projectile that zoomed through the roses and hit the trunk of the oak. Dark smoke swirled from the wood, and Cat could make out a small hole where the magic missile had impacted. She beamed with satisfaction at her slender hands. She had done it. She had managed to successfully recreate an image in her mind and transmute it into matter, and to direct and control it. Evocation was an extremely delicate, complex process that took a great deal of concentration, and an insane amount of practice.

 

Unable to hold back a triumphant chuckle, she opened her arms and spinned in circles, laughing like a madman and feeling so accomplished, so talented and powerful… Like she could  _ devour _ the whole world, if she wished. The mage flopped on the ground to lay with the roses. She got her face scratched by the flowers’ thorns, but right then she could not care any less, such was the overwhelming joy she felt. The young woman absentmindedly caressed one of the blood red petals, admiring the softness of its touch and the perfection of its peculiar teardrop shape. Soon, she completely lost track of time, and sighing, she dozed off…

 

* * *

 

_ Contorted faces stared at her in silent cries for mercy. Blood covered the world like an ocean, the sky just a mere reflection of it. She wore a crown of bones and held her gaze up in pride that not even a queen could hope to emulate. The Goddess sat at her crimson throne atop a mountain of corpses, her scarlet robes almost grazing the floor. In there, she recognized Gorion, Imoen, and all her tutors, but also everyone else; the rich and the poor, the young and the old, the mighty and the weak, the mortal and the divine, all knelt down before her. The Goddess smiled, for she knew that everything that ever was and everything that would ever be now belonged to her. _

* * *

 

Cat jolted awake, screaming and covered in cold sweat. Confused, she looked around; the sun was beginning to set. She should better hurry before Gorion noticed her absence at the library, where she was supposed to be studying. When she tried to recall the strange nightmare she just had, a shiver crept down her spine, and her heart skipped a beat or two. All she remembered was a sea of blood, and the ominous feeling that she had been toying with ideas that no mortal should be thinking of.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I hope you enjoyed this! I wrote it a while back, so the style might be a bit different than my current one. Still, this is among the very few one-shots I'm kind of satisfied with. Please do tell me what you think of it, your feedback means the world to me!


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